Power grids have not undergone significant architectural changes since use of electricity for power was realized more than a century ago. The idea of a “Smart Grid” was introduced in the late 1990s, however, today, power grids still only employ limited intelligence in managing and providing power to consumers. Energy distribution systems are currently at a crossroads, as they confront the significant problem of imbalances of various kinds. Not only is the gap between supply and demand continuing to increase due to global population growth, but there also is a geographic imbalance in energy production and consumption patterns. These imbalances and uncertainties could be exacerbated in the future considering the rapidly increasing energy demands of newly industrialized nations, such as China, India, Brazil, and Russia, as these and other nations will compete for more generating sources to meet expected energy demands. While incorporating a wide variety of renewable (non-fossil fuel) energy sources is part of the solution to the increasing energy demands, it is not likely that incorporating renewable energy sources will be a panacea for the impending energy issues. Thus, it is clear that there also will have to be significant changes in the power distribution network to help meet future energy needs.
Currently, communications is one area where changes are being made to power grids to create Smart Grids. Presently, emerging Smart Grid networks are deployed using a variety of communications technologies, including wired (e.g., fiber, microwave, power line, etc.) as well as public and private wireless networks (e.g., a communication network employing an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11-based protocol), using the licensed and unlicensed spectrum. In general, unlicensed wireless technologies, such as wireless technologies employing an IEEE 802.11-based protocol, can offer relatively low cost solutions for communication of information as compared to licensed wireless networks and wired networks, with the exception of power line carriers. However, both wireless and power line solutions face significant impediments with regard to Smart Grid communications, in terms of having to find an acceptable co-existence mechanism in the presence of increasing, diverse time and spatially varying interferences.
Historically, narrowband power line carrier (PLC) communications was developed for high voltage power lines within the transmission segment for long distances, using low frequencies (e.g., typically kHz range) and achieving very modest data rates (few kbps). Subsequently, the technique has been extended to the medium voltage distribution segment as well as in-home networks using higher frequency bands (e.g., around 1-30 MHz) and consequently achieving much higher signaling rates.
Utilities also have used unlicensed spectrum for automatic meter reading (AMR) applications, wherein a smart meter, which can be found at locations of both residential and commercial customers, allows electrical consumption information to be identified and transmitted to distribution-level control center (DCC), typically at periodic (e.g., monthly) times. Currently, new licensed spectrum allocation for SG does not appear to be on the horizon, leaving utilities to either use the unlicensed (e.g., 802.11-based technologies) or licensed cellular (e.g., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) within 4G) technologies for the distribution secondary/primary scales. Another recent proposition centers around the potential application of cognitive radios for SG applications.
One significant issue with the deployment of wireless communication technologies with Smart Grids is the current inability to provide desirable Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees (e.g., reliability, performance). Further, in general there are many points in conventional distribution power grids where collection and communication of data is wholly lacking Still another issue regarding SGs in general is, if there is an increase in communications in a SG, there also will be an exponential increase in data being generated and communicated throughout the SG; and currently there is no way of dealing with large amounts of data (e.g., terabytes of data) that can be generated throughout a power grid in a way that is useful to operation of the power grid.
Additionally, the flat control topography of the traditional electrical distribution system is likely to face hurdles with the incorporation of distributed power generation systems. Many electrical power sources in distributed generation systems are time variant. For example, wind turbines are subject to power fluctuation in time based at least in part on wind speed, solar power is time variant based at least in part on cloud cover, plug-in electrical vehicles with surplus power can be disconnected at a moment's notice, etc. Distributed power generation is therefore likely to introduce a need for high speed adjustments to portions of the electrical distribution system, as close to real time adjustment as possible, and simultaneously be likely to produce a flood of electrical consumption data. In a flat control topography, this additional data flow is likely to exacerbate the deficiencies of data throughput and processing. This can result in slower dynamic adjustment of the distribution network where, in fact, faster adjustment is desirable due to the increased demand for processing of such data.
Further, additional sensitivity to communications network faults can cause the flat topography control system to become increasingly perilous to grid control and can seriously affect downstream consumers. As more data passes directly to the DCC due to the proliferation of smart devices generating consumable data for grid control, the DCC can become more dependent on this additional data for proper grid control. Where the DCC is dependent on this increased data flow for proper grid control, even minor diminished communication bandwidth can impair the flat grid control system by reducing the amount of data accessible for proper control. Hyper-dependable communications systems over an entire distribution grid is desirable for a reliable electrical system, but is burdened under the sheer volume of smart data anticipated in the future electrical grid.
The above-described deficiencies of today's systems are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.